Refrigerator-car.



' to be readily folded into small compass and New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and Improved Refrigerator-Oar, of which the folwhereby the car may be refrigerated when freight when refrigeration is not required.

in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Views.

arranged to receive ice and shown at the right of the figure in folded position, the section being indicated by the line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig.

UNITED STATES Patented June 30,- 1903 2 PAT NT OFFICE.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters .Patent No. 732,597, dated June 30, 1903.

Application filedOctober 6, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. STANLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of State of Louisiana, have invented a new and lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to freightcars of the general construction shown in the United States patents granted to me April 19, 1898, No. 602,483, and November 6, 1900, No. 661,429. Said cars are specially designed for the carrying of fruits and other perishable goods, and to this end have hollow walls and means for thoroughly ventilating the car, as well as certain chambers for receiving ice,

this is required by the character of the freight.

The present invention provides a novel means for forming the ice-chambers, the partitions and racks that enter into the construction of this feature of the car being arranged moved to a position enabling practically the whole content of the car to be utilized for The invention will be hereinafter particularly described and then defined in the claims. Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partof this specification,

Figure 1 is a broken longitudinal sectional elevation of a car provided with my improved means for forming the ice-chamber, the said means being shown at the left of the figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional plan view. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation, the section being indicated by the line 3 3'in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail view, on a larger scale, showing the joint in the articulated partition that forms a wall of an ice-chamber and certain devices employed to aid' in sustaining said partition when not in use; and Fig. 5 is a detail View showing means for securing the bottom of the partition in either of its positions.

The hollow walls A of the car, the floor B, and the ventilating means need not be particularly described herein, as the same are SerialNo. 126,168. (NomodeL) fully disclosed in my previous patents mentioned above.

The improved means for forming the icecham'bers comprise two main parts consisting 'of" an articulated partition 0 and racks D,

forming the bottom of the chambers. There is one chamber ateach end of the car, and

for each chamber'two partitions O and two transversely beneath the roof A, thus reliev ing the roof of strain. The beam E is spaced from the roof a sufficient distance to allow circulation of air around said beam. The counectionbetween the partitions C and beam E is effected by. clips 6 on said beam, extensions c on the partitions, and bolts 6', passing through said clips and exteusions,whereby the partitions may swing toward and fromthe end wall of the car. Each partition 0 is articulated to flex at its transverse center, being formed of upper and lower members jointed by hinges 0 secured on the outer face of. the members. To hold the members in alinement as a rigid partition, bolts 0 are provided at the joint, being secured on one section to slide vertically and engage keepers c on the other section. a

The ice supports D, hereinafter called racks, form the bottom of each ice-chamber and are hingedly connected at one end, as at d, to the inner face of the lower members of each partition a proper distance above the car-floor to allow necessarycirculation of air. A beam or sill F extends across the car near each end, being spaced from the'end wall and from the floor of the car, and the racks D when in the lowered position are supported on their inner ends on said beam. With this construction the racks D may be swung upward on their connections at d to lie against the inner faces of the partitions, and each partition-section may be swung on its suspending device and flexed on its hinges c to bring said racks and the lower members of the partition parallel with and close to the end wall of the car, so that the said partition members rest on the beam F, as seen at the right in Fig. l, the upper members of the partition then ranging diagonally from the flexible joint to the described suspending devices connecting the partitions with the beam E.

The lower end of each partition carries bolts D which may enter holes 1) in the fioor B when the partition is in the vertical position, (see Fig. 5,) and thus fasten the partition against movement. The said bolts 19 when the partition rest on the beam F enter holes or recessesfin said beam, and in order to further fasten the partitions and racks in the folded position hooks H, Fig. 4, are secured to each end wall of the car and are adapted to engage eyes on the partitions, as best shown in Fig. 4.

When the partitions and racks are set up for use, ice may be entered through inlets I, provided in the car-roof, as fully explained in my Patent No. 661,429.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of a swinging partition suspended in a position spaced from a wall of said structure and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward said wall, a rack hinged to said partition to be carried by the said partition when the latter is swung in its suspending devices and flexed, and means for holding the partition in either the folded or unfolded position.

2. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of a swinging partition suspended in a position spaced from a wall of said structure and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward said wall, a rack hinged to said partition, a support adjacent said end wall for receiving the free end of the rack or the lower end of the partition, and means for holding the partition in either the folded or unfolded position.

3. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of a swingingpartition suspended in a position spaced from a wall of said structure and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward said wall, a rack hinged to said partition, a support adjacent said end wall for receiving the free end of the rack or the lower end of the partition, said support being spaced from said wall and from the floor of the structure, and means for holding the partition in either the folded or unfolded position.

4'. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of an overhead beam, a swinging partition suspended from said beam and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward the adjacent wall of the said structure, a rack hinged to said partition, a beam extending across the structure, adjacent to the mentioned wall of the structure and spaced from said wall and from the floor of the structure, said beam and floor having recesses, and bolts carried by the partition at the lower end for entering either of said recesses.

5. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of an overhead beam, spaced from the roof of said structure, a swinging partition suspended from said beam and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward the adjacent Wall of the said structure, a rack hinged to said partition, a beam extending across the structure, adjacent to the mentioned wall of the structure, spaced from said wall and from the floor of the structure,said beam and floor having recesses, bolts carried by the partition at the lower end for entering either of said recesses, and means to prevent flexure of the partition when unfolded.

6. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, ofan overhead beam, a swinging partition suspended from said beam and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward the adjacent wall of the said structure, a rack hinged to said partition, a beam extending across the structure, adjacent to the mentioned wall of the structure and spaced from said wall and from the floor of the structure, said beam and floor having recesses, bolts carried by the partition at the lower end for entering either of said recesses, means to prevent flexure of the partition when in the unfolded position, an eye on the partition, and a hook on the adjacent wall of the structure, for engaging said eye.

7. The combination with a car, of a partition suspended to swing toward an end wall of the car and spaced from said wall, said partition consisting of two sections, each composed of two members hinged together on a horizontal line, the said sections extending from opposite sides of the car to about the center, a rack hinged to the lower member of each section on the inside or that side which is toward the said end wall, and means for holding the partition adjacent to said end wall or spaced therefrom.

8. The combination with a structure to be refrigerated, of a swinging partition suspended in a position spaced from a wall of said structure, and articulated to flex intermediate its ends and fold toward said wall, a rack hinged to said partition near the lower end, on the side which faces said wall, and means for holding the partition and rack in either the folded or unfolded position, said means including a rest for receiving the lower end of the partition in its folded position.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY F. STANLEY.

Witnesses:

FRANK BRADY, ROBT. MCDOWELL. 

